Georgia to play Baa-baas

The Barbarians will conclude their June tour with a ground-breaking game against Georgia at Tbilisi's National Stadium on June 4 - an occassion that affords the club a chance to get back to its missionary roots.

Leicester Tigers coach Pat Howard will take charge of the famous invitational side for their first-ever game against Georgia, who sit second behind Romania in the European Nations Cup.

The Barbarians face England at Twickenham on May 28 and Scotland at Murrayfield a week later before heading to Georgia, where they will also be conducting a number of coaching clinics.

Barbarians president Micky Steele-Bodger said he was looking forward to spreading the gospel of rugby to new lands.

"The invitation to complete the tour by travelling to Georgia is an honour for us and in keeping with our commitment to encouraging the game in what will be a new rugby territory for us," he said.

"It is something we are looking forward to very much indeed."

Australian 1999 Rugby World Cup-winning coach Bob Dwyer leads the Barbarians into the England game, for which France fullback Thomas Castaignède, New Zealand scrum-half Justin Marshall and Australian flanker Owen Finegan are already pencilled in.

Howard replaces Dwyer as coach for the games against Scotland and the trip to Georgia.

WP Carpmael, the club's founder, stipulated that the Barbarians "should be absolutely cosmopolitan with the aim of spreading good-fellowship amongst all rugby football players" and the club has a long and proud history of supporting the game.

The Baa-baas played Portugal in Lisbon in 2004 and there have been visits to places such as Uruguay, Russia and Germany.

The Barbarians Rugby Trust has sent donations - including kit - to South African townships, Brazil, China, Romania and Slovenia.

The Baa-baas recently played a centenary match against the Royal Navy and a similar fixture is being arranged against the Army for 2007.

The club has also announced that they will form a side to play a 150th anniversary match against Edinburgh Academicals in 2008 at Raeburn Place, the venue for the first-ever international match.